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Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
Nutrition emergency response and Treatment of wasting is one of the key components of UNICEF’s nutrition program in Afghanistan. The lifesaving nutrition treatment services have significantly expanded in reach and scope over the past decade and are currently implemented in all 34 provinces. In the past years, the funding landscape for Nutrition has significantly changed. All the nutrition actors are exploring innovative ways to mitigate the funding shortfall and support continuous program delivery. For the period 2025- 2026, UNICEF will be supporting the roll out of the new Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) protocol in Afghanistan. The massive number of health facilities running this program will require technical expertise in critical areas linked to the implementation of the IMAM protocol.
The National IMAM consultant – will be responsible to oversee the coordination implementation, monitoring, and quality assurance of the nutrition treatment program.
Scope of Work:
The National IMAM Consultant will provide technical support on IMAM programming, ensuring alignment with national guidelines and cluster priorities. Within the nutrition cluster, they will support coordination, capacity strengthening, and data-driven decision-making. Externally, they will engage stakeholders to enhance emergency nutrition response and scalability. The consultant will facilitate IMAM related events and technical working group meeting (IMAM Working Group (IMAM WG), bringing together donors, UN agencies, and major implementing partners.
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
- Provide technical support to a wide range of partners on IMAM ensuring alignment with national guidelines and emergency priorities.
- Review and prioritize IMAM/NiE activities (including annual plans, and emergency response) based on gaps and severity.
- Provide technical support and leadership to IMAM technical working groups and national events (workshops, WGs, TF meetings) on behalf of UNICEF/Cluster.
- Support revising IMAM protocols, tools, and guidelines in line with WHO standards and support fast-track implementation (from July 2025).
- Monitor and analyze performance of BPHS/non-BPHS and HER/non-HER partners, providing feedback to the implementing partners for quality improvement.
- Technical support in overseeing nutrition commodity needs, including annual estimation, quarterly verification, and rationalization of UN agency support.
- Support facilitating the IMAM Working Group, ensuring coordination with the Nutrition Cluster and sectoral stakeholders.
- Conduct field monitoring visits and supportive supervision to assess IMAM/NiE program quality and coverage.